My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Season 2 Review

Posted on July 5, 2026 by dreager1

The Vigilantes spinoff continues with this season and now we’re getting closer to the meat of the series. The big villains are showing up now and the plot is gradually escalating. All Might also gets to have a big action scene which was really cool to see. The series continues to have great production values all the way through with no real weaknesses and I can safely say that it has risen above the first season.

Koichi is a much more experienced vigilante compared to his season 1 days. Knuckleduster has been off the grid for a while so Koichi and Pop have to take care of crime on their own. They’ve done a good job of this though and have made a good amount of friends in the city. They even have time for their day jobs like Pop working as a real idol and Koichi supporting her from the side. Well things are about to get dangerous again as an evil speedster is on the loose. It won’t be easy to stop this guy.

Speedsters are always going to be the hardest characters to write around. Either the character isn’t fast enough to make a difference or they basically end the verse. There are almost limitless uses for a good speedster after all and ultimately this one leans more towards the latter. There are virtually no fighters who can really hope to beat him. There are some pretty creative approaches on how to deal with this but even those do end up using quite a bit of plot armor. Realistically this guy would be wiping just about everyone out until All Might notices and stops him.

The speedster is the best character in the season though. He is smug and dangerous, a really top tier combo. He knows that the heroes don’t have a chance and basically rubs this in their faces. It’s not like speed is all that he’s got either, he’s also a mastermind. He always manages to stay one step ahead which isn’t easy. As the show goes on he is only getting stronger too. I liked the wasp villain from season 1 so this title has really had great villains for 2 seasons in a row now.

The first few episodes are mainly about showing how well Koichi can look after himself and showing how the instant villains are popping up everywhere. For now the cops have no way of predicting where or when they will show up so the pro heroes aren’t able to react very quickly. Koichi continues to develop his powers so that he is ready for them though. We also do get the occasional guest star like Fatgum who helps out during the warehouse battle. It’s always fun to see the pro heroes appear even if this story is mainly for the Vigilantes.

Koichi is also more confident in his own abilities so he makes for a good main character. He’s definitely the oblivious type but always intends to be responsible and helps his community. He is a well balanced main character with no real downsides. Pop is also solid but definitely leans into being a tsundere a lot so she isn’t often honest with her feelings. That can always be a bit of a challenge for Koichi and she can look a little annoying as a result. I think what I was most surprised by when this first came out was how she never got a real power up. She isn’t really able to contribute in the fights at all which is unfortunate. There’s just not a whole lot you can do to make her more important like that. It’s probably why she has the idol career but that feels like a subplot at best.

We take a break from the main plot to get a few episodes about Eraser Head and his old friend Oboro. We learn about how Oboro would go on to become the shadowy villain, Kurogiri in the main series. It’s definitely a very important story arc to be in a spinoff to that was interesting to see. Admittedly I was much more interested in the main plot by this time but the episodes were handled well. It is interesting to see Eraser Head back when he was slightly less jaded. He also wasn’t quite the expert fighter that he would become later on.

As far as flashbacks go it was pretty decent. Midnight and Present Mic also seemed like dependable friends who really helped him on this journey. Without them he would have been even more isolated. Naturally Oboro was also good. He is a lot like Obito from the Naruto series. A kid who is really energetic and ready to help out everyone who he can. He has all the markings of a true hero and it’s a shame that he couldn’t last longer.

We then get to the climax of the season with the Captain Celebrity arc. He is trying to rehab his image which was sorely needed but he will have to do it while protecting a whole tower filled with people from explosives. Naturally if he succeeds then this will be a giant W but the stakes are high. Celebrity had a rough start but he looks good here. How much you enjoy his character will really all depend on how much you think he has really changed as a character. I would say it’s fairly night and day here where he is treated much more as a naive guy who just got on the wrong path before. I like him in the superhero context the whole time but as a person he will need to continue to prove himself more and more. Unfortunately I don’t expect that he will be getting very many scenes in the future to show this.

His powerset is really fun though. He has the All Might type of powers but to a much weaker degree. In addition to that he has an energy barrier that protects him from most attacks. It takes a whole lot to actually pierce it and usually Celebrity would be able to dodge most attacks. This was just an exception because he had to deal with the whole hostage situation. It’s safe to say that he is one of the strongest characters in the series.

This time the subplot actually ended up winning out though. While the main plot had the best animated scene with All Might, the subplot had Knuckleduster return to fight the speedster. It was a really fun fight with great music and tactics. Yes there was some plot armor but the fight is still really satisfying. Knuckleduster showed why he is such a versatile fighter and we got to learn more about his past. I did miss having him be part of the main cast so it was really good to see him return. It’ll never stop being impressive to see just how strong he is for a guy who has absolutely no powers.

The animation is really great as you’d expect. The colors are striking and the action scenes are really fast paced. The explosions are all over the place in a good way and none of the episodes feel like they really got the shaft. Meanwhile the soundtrack is also really good. There are a lot of great themes throughout. The main theme song may not be my favorite but the rest of the ost on the whole is pretty good which is what really counts.

The episodes go by quickly so there is a lot of replay value. There is also a lot of room left for a season 3. Naturally you need that for the big battle with the speedster but we can also look forward to more appearances by the pro heroes. Ultimately I will always think that the heroes are a little too by the book here though. Their hard stance against the vigilantes really just opens the door up for the villains. It’s a constant theme that never actually ends in this series but it’s always worth referencing. It puts Koichi in a tougher spot than he should be.

In one episode we also see Tsukauchi make an argument for why he thinks that All Might shouldn’t save him. He believes that it is just too selfish and All Might belongs to the world at large. I heavily disagreed with this because at the end of the day All Might is a symbol of peace for all. Saving Tsukauchi is just another example of stopping a villain and All Might will drop anything to save him. He would do the same for anyone else that he knows. It may be special treatment but it is not at the expense of anyone else.

If Tsukauchi had just called in All Might during the first battle with the speedster then the whole series could have ended there. As fast as the guy he, he’s nowhere near as fast as All Might. Tsukauchi’s pride prevented him from making the call and that’s the wrong decision to make. I sympathize with the plight a bit since at least I do understand it. I just disagree while All might more or less convinces Tsukauchi to call him in large scale emergencies; you can tell that the guy is still going to be reserved to an extent.

This does work as a great foil to All Might though who looks as great as ever. Since we see him from Koichi’s point of view, we can really appreciate how All Might was the ultimate symbol of peace. He shows up with the big grin and ends the whole stressful situation in an instant. He doesn’t struggle or hesitate. Then when the villain tries to get a second wind, All Might transforms and defeats him in the same instant. This kind of overwhelming power is exactly what scared the villains in the first place and the show reflected that super well. His scenes were crazy impressive here. I’d love to watch a whole series about All Might back around his prime or even the slightly weakened days lke here.

Overall, I definitely recommend checking this one out. It’s not every day that a main series can get a spinoff with multiple seasons like this. It reminds me of a Certain Magical Index and its spinoffs. This show does well in keeping up with the main series and just has a cozy atmosphere. If you missed the older seasons of MHA that were very light toned, then this is always a good change of pace for you. The next season for Vigilantes may start to get more serious as well but there are a lot of happy moments coming up as well. The series is really balancing all of the action/fighting while also being a slice of life/rom-com for Koichi and Pop. It’s doing a whole lot of things and keeps that street level kind of vibe for the series. I’ll definitely be ready for the next season.

Overall 8/10

Sneakers Review

Posted on July 4, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for an Oceans 11 type of film that I hadn’t really heard of before. This one has aged well and I just enjoy these kind of heist stories. There is a good sense of danger throughout even if the ending is perhaps a bit more optimistic than what would likely be happening here. The important thing is that the movie wasn’t going to end on a super sour note and I definitely appreciate that.

The movie starts with Martin and Cosmo using their hacking skills to steal a ton of money from rich people and reallocating it to their favorite social causes. Cosmo ends up being captured by the cops while Martin escapes and changes his identity. Many years pass by and now the NSA has caught up to him. They blackmail Martin with his past and say that they will keep it quiet if he steals something from them. A powerful new kind of hacking equipment that can get decrypt any security system in an instant. Martin gets his team ready for this but should he really give such a powerful piece of equipment to the government?

A big theme in the film is about not trusting anyone. Everyone has some kind of an angle here and you’ve got quite a few factions running around. The Russians are behind every corner of course and all the letter agencies would be interested in this as well. Just stealing the thing won’t be easy either as Martin runs into his past on this adventure. That said, Martin isn’t as indecisive as you may expect with these stakes. He just can’t let the blackmail get out under any circumstances and so he is ready to play ball with the government right from the beginning of this story. He never looks back either and just gets to completing the mission.

Something I appreciated about the film is that all of his teammates are important. The film balances them all rather well. First up we have Whistler who is blind. You may figure this will make him ineffective in most situations but he actually does really well and even gets the MVP spot. He’s the reason they find the enemy base, the reason they had an escape route, etc. Without him they would not have lasted long here. His senses are virtually superhuman.

Then you have Donald who used to work with the CIA. He has a lot of connections as a result and is the most professional member of the group. He has a gun at the ready and bails Martin out from a trap. Definitely the muscle behind the team and he keeps Marin from being too impulsive. Martin does well as the leader but he absolutely does tend to be pretty emotional and lose his cool.

After that is Carl who is the youngest member. He tends to do a lot of the grunt work like hacking at close range or being the guy to pull off social engineering. Carl can be the most annoying one as well though as he gets distracted on the missions and tends to be a little girl crazy. To an extent they all are, but the others at least try to hide it. By default the smallest role would be Darren who handles all of the tech. He makes sure that everything is working well on the ground which is why his codename is “Mother”. So he’s very important but gets a little less to do in terms of individual scenes.

There’s also the main heroine Liz who used to date Martin but managed to get out of that situation. Well when he asks her for help, Liz can’t really bring herself to refuse. She probably should have to be honest though. She’s stuck with the worst tasks like seducing someone to get his voice on record. That’s always a very tired spy trope that never really works without the victim just looking bad. In this case Liz got super sloppy though which put her in a tricky spot.

As for the main villain, well he is pretty good but definitely too indecisive. He can never seem to decide if his main goal is something really personal to him or for the greater good. He tries to use the latter as his reasoning a lot but it always tends to come off as a cover story. Really this guy just wants to prove that he is better than Martin and messes up a lot of his free shots by the end. He could have come out on top easily in this film if he didn’t make massive errors. I thought he made for a good villain overall though. He was certainly entertaining even if he wasn’t always very effective.

The pacing is pretty good here and the writing is solid. It does have the occasional miss when it comes to the jokes but nobody bats 1000. The end of the climax also may have been a little too goofy at the end. The film is part comedy but up to that point the serious scenes were mostly played straight. I suppose they just wanted to have a bit of fun with the ending and it’s a short scene so it’s not like I had any big issues with it. It just felt a little jarring with the timing and all.

The movie really made the most of the tech aspect of the heist. I enjoyed the challenge of Martin having to move really slowly to get past one of the security systems for example. There were a lot of things that had to go right for the heist but they all felt like fairly reasonable challenges without a whole lot of plot armor. There will always be a little bit of that in a film like this but it was never excessive.

Overall, Sneakers is a pretty good film. I had fun with it and it succeeds in being entertaining all the way. There may be a twist that you see coming a mile away but it’s still a good plot on the whole. The title of the film also stands out and is a really good pun. If you’re looking for a well balanced film then I would check this one out. It may not become your next favorite hit but there aren’t a ton of heist films out there and this one holds up with the ones that are already out.

Overall 7/10

Fire Emblem Engage Review

Posted on June 21, 2026 by dreager1

I remember having a great time with the Fire Emblem Engage video game for the Switch. It was cool to see all of the old FE main characters teaming up even if I hadn’t played through almost any of the original titles at the time. The manga does a good job of adapting the full experience as well and was quite detailed. If you are unable to buy the game then this is a good way to experience the journey. Hopefully the new game coming up will get a solid manga adaption as well.

The game started by introducing us to a guy named Alear. He has complete amnesia but when he wakes up the guy is told that he is the legendary hero who will save the world. Alear seems to be completely immortal and has the ability to interact with the souls of legendary warriors. Alear may not know what is going on but he wants to do his part to save the world. There are powerful threats everywhere and Alear does not intend to give up or allow for any of the chaos to proceed. He will need to recruit powerful allies to stop the Fell Dragon and his army of corrupted warriors.

Right away I remember liking Alear’s design from the game and of course it translates well into the manga as well. To an extent you could say that his character is fairly generic but that’s also due in part to the amnesia. He doesn’t really know what is going on and is just trying to do the responsible thing in every situation. Alear is quick to act and doesn’t hesitate so I appreciated that. At times he can be a little timid though and it takes a while for him to obtain a true level of resolve. That’s something that Marth and the other Emblems have to beat into him for a while there.

Alear may not come close to the level of Roy, Ike, or Marth in terms of being a leader but does well enough. His abilities also make him a real force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. He gets overshadowed a bit by his mother who really gets several standout scenes. She probably should have told Alear certain truths before it was too late though. I really think he would have been able to handle the truth sooner and it could have avoided a lot of manipulation from the villain side. I suppose you can’t account for every eventuality but she had to suspect that this would come up at some point. I would have liked an extra fight scene for her but the manga did have to cover a lot of content in 40 chapters.

As far as the pacing goes, one thing that is always tough for adaptions is balancing out the side characters. The game has over 20-30 hours to flesh out each of the characters and give them all kinds of fun interactions. The manga has to be a lot more selective here and so things move at a very fast pace. Not a bad thing, but it does mean that most of the characters don’t get to do a whole lot. If you played the game then you’ll just be happy to see them but if you are a manga only reader then you’re going to start mixing some of the characters up. Most of their character arcs also take place off screen.

Ironically the villains get far more screentime and each of them gets their full origin story here. In a sense it might be more important to cover them since there are less villains and that is a more achievable goal. These are all tough choices though and at the end of the day I do think that the manga did a good job here. The Emblems themselves didn’t get to do a whole lot even in the game so it’s not like that has changed all that much. It’s just cool to see them but realistically only Marth does anything. Marth looks solid and has always been a great face of the franchise even if I’m a bigger Roy and Ike fan.

The artwork is pretty solid, it’s going for a not so detailed approach that makes every page really easy to read. The ink shows up for all of the fight scenes though so those definitely still get a lot of focus. It’s better than the average adaption art I would say. Additionally this makes it pretty new reader friendly. The writing is on point as with the game of course. Fire Emblem has always been a pretty classy series so there aren’t any big issues throughout the story either. This is what I would call a straight forward read. It may not have super strong highs but there are no lows so it ends up being a pretty good read all the way through.

As for the rest of the characters, the series has a pretty decent supporting cast even if their roles are smaller. I always enjoyed Yunaka who plays out a bit like a wild card. That aspect of her character is dialed back in the manga but she’s a bit of a thief with a shady past so the heroes do have to be careful on just how much they trust her. Her side plot was the most interesting back in the game. Vander’s role drops significantly once the story gets going but was a good guardian/body guard for Alear back in the intro. His years of experience on the battlefield definitely come in handy throughout.

Alfred and Celine are good examples of characters who had a big role in the game but don’t do as much in the manga. They are generally supportive throughout though. Fogado and Timerra are the same way. Basically each kingdom has a prince and a princess who join the party. In the game you will usually get a full chapter to each character and then they’re around for all the bonus content and conversations between missions. They technically stick around here too but don’t get much dialogue. I think you will still understand their general personalities well enough though.

On the villain side Hyacinth is definitely a pretty imposing figure. Initially it is definitely unclear on why he is even helping the Fell Dragon at all. Likewise most of his comrades are unsure about their directions but follow as loyal soldiers. It is definitely the big downside to being loyal like this because just following someone out of duty to the crown is not a good excuse. You always need to have a strong moral compass and the ability to make your own decisions if you ask me.

Veyle is a character who I can give a pass to because she has a lot going on with mind control and different things like that. Ordinarily she would have been moving very differently in the story and you feel bad for her as well because bad things keep happening to her and she doesn’t even know what is going on. I always feel like you should be able to just resist mind control outright but in the meantime it can be a tragic plot device. The villains do tend to look rather dumb with how obvious they act though. It would have been super easy to keep on manipulating Veyle but they couldn’t help themselves with the classic villain laughter and explaining their goals within earshot.

Zelestia is a big example of this as she is supposed to be a super strategist and yet she makes the biggest rookie mistakes. I also think that her redemption arc is really late in the game. She gets a big emotional ending and all but she has already committed so many crimes by that point. It’s just a little late for all of that. Griss goes down a similar route but it’s even more unbelievable because his whole persona is being sadistic and crazy. A bit late for second thoughts eh?

There is a difficult line to walk where you could make a character who is super evil just because that’s the only thing he/she knows and didn’t grow up in a normal environment. That can absolutely be effective but it didn’t really work here. Mauvier is the most reasonable villain as he used to be an honorable knight but he still ends up working with the villains. No real way to get around that fact in the end. I still did appreciate him and his honor code though.

Ivy and Hortensia are two other crazy type villains who get more of a redemption arc but theirs is much more impressive. The manga at least allows them moments of doubt throughout the story so it doesn’t come across as something out of nowhere. This makes a huge difference and so it didn’t feel abrupt when they decided to help the heroes. They were able to see past their usual sense of loyalty which was good. Well, Ivy more than Hortensia since Ivy was much easier to convince.

Even from the summaries you can see how the villains got much more development but I don’t want to totally undersell the heroes. They are still around and make for good characters. The manga just has to go on with the story and it’s a very classic story of the heroes trying to topple an enemy empire. Whether you’ve read a Fire Emblem story before or not, you should be able to enjoy this one pretty well. I was also glad that it answered the question of whether Alear can be summoned since he will eventually be an Emblem. The title really uses all of the concepts that it introduces instead of doing so half heartedly. A story like this will be enjoyable in any medium, maybe one day we will get a proper Fire Emblem anime to adapt some of these titles.

The story also does have time to really hit the emotional beats like Alear saying goodbye to his mother and pretty much all of the scenes with Veyle. That’s something that helps it stand out as something more than just being a basic defeat the kingdom story. The story would still be 100X better if all of the Emblems of legend were around as physical bodies instead of being spirits but I do get how they would quickly take over the story. Hopefully they can do that next time. In a longer series you probably could have given them some subplots as well.

Overall, Fire Emblem Engage is a series that I would recommend checking out. It’s a pretty good story and I always like seeing Fire Emblem content. The setting and feel of the story is much different than most of the other adventures though because it has more of a sci-fi feel to it with the various gizmos and the locations as a whole. There are a few standard kingdoms but it’s not like a lot of the older Fire Emblem stories where they are very clearly told from the perspective of the far past. This one is mixing in elements from different time periods all the way through. I’d like to see a sequel some day or a Fire Emblem game that is more of a true crossover between the characters instead of keeping them as spirits the whole time.

Overall 7/10

Heat Review

Posted on June 19, 2026 by dreager1

This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

There’s an old saying that a good movie will become a great movie with enough length but a bad movie will become a terrible one if you extend it. I tend to agree with that in theory and this film’s a pretty good example. It has a nice set up but coms with several problems and those problems just start to get worse and worse as the film goes on. It really needed a checks and balance system in order to prevent things from getting out of control like this. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and so this one really sabotages itself. There’s a good film somewhere in here but it is buried deep.

The movie focuses on a master cop and an ultimate thief. Both of them have really put everything into the job to the point where their lives away from the job have really become a mess. It is the lot they have chosen in life though and neither one has any regrets. They will have to face each other though as only one of them will be able to walk away from this in one piece. Will the victor be the cop or the crook? You’ll find out by the end of the film.

Right away the biggest hurdle for the film is just how unlikable the characters are. For the main two the film is trying to show us how they are just trying their best but can’t find a happy middle between the job and their lives. The problem is that it sure doesn’t look that way from the outside. They’re just jerks who make each situation worse so I’m not seeing any great effort there.

Lets take the main character Vincent. This guy is already on his third wife and things are not going well because he refuses to tell her about his work at all. So he goes out there for incredibly long hours and when he gets home then he doesn’t want to talk. In fact he goes out of his way to push her out because that’s just the way that he likes things. When she calls him out on it, he has no real good response to this. She decides to end up cheating which is obviously a terrible thing to do and then Vincent keeps on going with his routine.

It’s a toxic relationship all the way around with both parties looking super bad. I just don’t get why he was completely unwilling to compromise and talk to her before that point. I understand really enjoying your job but there’s no reason to be like that socially. Being with him just seems like it would be an incredibly hollow experience. Vincent is at least good at his job so I’ll give him that but that’s about all that I can give him.

As the film goes on he gets to interact with Neil who is the big gangster on the other side. The conversation is decently interesting but I don’t really get why they would even slightly respect each other. The hero/villain dynamic can work with respect but you usually still have to earn it in some way. I didn’t think that Neil did anything to earn that respect here. From Vincent’s point of view he should just be another villain to overcome. He wasn’t super impressive. Vincent’s group had him dead to rights early on if one officer hadn’t dropped his water bottle.

As for Neil, well he’s worse than Vincent. The big problem with Neil is that he makes a whole lot of mistakes throughout the film. The whole thing wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t lose track of the mass murderer outside the deli. I don’t know how that guy escaped in the first place, clearly Neil has no peripheral vision. At least he was ready to get revenge for the rest of the movie but I would have written it a bit differently so the escape wasn’t completely Neil’s fault like this.

Additionally Neil is always willing to compromise and is a villain through and through. You could have had a villain with a really strict honor code which explains why Vincent doesn’t mind him but that’s not the case here. Neil’s too busy covering up for his allies who are just not good people. At one point he threatens the cheating wife of one of his subordinates about how she needs to stay with the toxic guy for a while longer. Neil just wants to complete his mission and he can’t even stick to his own internal rules in the end.

So yeah he’s just another random villain. At least that’s how it should seem to Vincent. As per usual the romance throughout the film is more on the weaker side. This one is really going by the classic rules of how someone is eventually going to cheat out of loneliness or boredom which always means that you picked the wrong person. The film also has a mass murderer named Waingro running around. I thought he was rather unnecessary to the film but is mainly here so Neil isn’t as bad in comparison.

That part is true as this guy is obviously the most evil character. We see him murder quite a few people and he basically has no reason to do this. He just enjoys the violence and that’s really all that you need to know about the guy. That’s why any victory by the end is going to be rather hollow because of the body count. The climax is nice and action packed but it does feel like the villains have a lot of plot armor. They are outnumbered at least 20 to 2 and are mostly taking all of the heroes down. I don’t get how you can miss so many shots in close quarters like that.

What I can give this film as a positive is that the writing is generally solid. The plot is engaging and you are interested in seeing how things will wrap up. There are a lot of traps and counter traps going on. Each side is really able to fight well and even if the supporting characters don’t have huge roles there, they get enough scenes to be more than nobodies. I would have just used some of the film’s exceptionally long screentime to give them some more memorable scenes and fights.

Overall, Heat is one of those films that is very ambitious but messes up on the fundamentals. In theory it’s interesting to have two main characters who are set up to eventually have to fight each other. That’s always going to be a fun idea but you need to actually have both characters be likable first. Until you actually do that then the film is really going to be doomed. It’s also a little too drawn out. Perhaps if this was more of an ensemble cast with 4 factions then it could work but the film is very clearly centered around the main two. I’d recommend checking out a different title instead for your dose of action.

Overall 3/10

007 First Light Review

Posted on June 6, 2026 by dreager1

This was a game that looked like a blast right from the start. In a way First Light was kind of like a successor to the old Uncharted franchise. Yes this would be about James Bond but there was more of a focus on the hand to hand combat than on the gun gameplay. Can’t really say I minded that all that much. After all I love the hand to hand gameplay. Throw in a compelling story and you really have a great title here.

The game is essentially an origin story for James Bond as we start the game with him being a soldier. After one mission goes haywire, Bond ends up joining M16 and trains to become a numbered agent. Along the way he will have to deal with powerful rival agents and an information leak that could end the civilized world. Fortunately Bond is ready for all of this. He’s never been the kind of guy to shy away from a fight after all.

Bond is one of those characters that I don’t generally like. I feel like he tends to lose far too quickly in most films and gets outsmarted all the time. He’s also way too girl crazy and this comes at the expense of the mission. While those traits still exist in this game, they are certainly not played nearly as much as in the movies. Bond is much more focused here for the most part even if he still makes time for a few one night stands every now and again. That keeps him from being a great character but at least he came a lot closer here than he ever did in the movies.

The game is fairly long so you won’t beat the campaign too quickly. It’s certainly not 20 hours but is easily in the double digits and I was satisfied with the campaign. There are 10 main chapters here and there are a lot of collectibles and extra dialogue options in each level. Unfortunately the simulator mode is online only which is a shame since that part is supposed to be a whole lot of fun. I guess I will work on playing through that during a free PSN weekend or something like that.

For the gameplay, the action part has you focusing on lots of punches and grabs. Grabs are completely broken in this game. They go through any attack and you can trap enemies in unescapable combos. They only don’t work on bosses who are immune to physical attacks and you must use the environment against them. Not a problem, there are always a lot of things to throw everywhere. You also have your gadgets which can short change any fight. Each gadget can one shot the opponent standing in your way.

I think the goal was to make sure that the game is accessible to everyone and for that reason it is a little bit on the easier side. Tere are times you will die though. I definitely died in quite a few of the shootouts which are the toughest part s of the game. The stealth and hand to hand parts though? You will breeze through those.

For the stealth there isn’t much of a punishment to failing thanks to the bluff mechanics that are around. Just back up and start again or use one of your gadgets to stun the guy and walk past him. Likewise for the punching parts, if they manage to land a blow on you then you can just run away. Your health regenerates really quickly so you can go back to full health and then fight again. So if you really want a challenge then you should probably start on hard mode.

I gotta say that I approved of these mechanics though. It’s going to be hard going back to normal stealth after this since all of the bluffing just feels so satisfying. Additionally you feel the impact from every punch. The combat is super satisfying all the way around. I really don’t have anything bad to say about the gameplay. It is always consistently top tier and you have a whole lot of freedom to attack the levels in any way that you want to. I certainly have a lot of fun with freedom like that.

If I had any kind of nitpick with the game it could be that at times the story could move a bit slowly. I really enjoyed the intro, the climax, and a lot of stuff in between but then sometimes things would go a bit slowly. Walking through the villain HQ in the arctic for example was a bit on the slow side as you must maintain your cover and can’t just go in blasting. I know why we had to be subtle but I just wanted to get on with it. If anything I wish that the final part could have been longer since having to play as Bond without any gadgets or special powers was fun. It lets you see just how strong he still is even without any kind of backup like that.

I’m betting that the sequels will only continue to add new gameplay styles and gadgets to the mix so I’m sure things will only get better from here. Of course with a different game studio coming in that may not be as much of a guarantee as I was thinking. Either way I have high hopes though. This is definitely the kind of game that you should play right away. The story is still very good even if I thought it had some pacing issues. The villains also end up being quite memorable. The best boss fight in the game is pretty early on though where you have to take on two assassins at once. That was a great fight, wish we could have gotten more like that. Later on the bosses are all immune to physical attacks like I mentioned before so they are a bit more gimmicky than the usual battles.

Overall, The term “AAA” may have taken some shots over the years but this is exactly the kind of game that you would think of for this acronym. First Light feels like a game that had a lot of development time put into it and this was not wasted. Every part of the game is treated with a lot of care and dedication. The gameplay is smooth and every technical element is accounted for. There may have been one or two times where the game crashed but it auto saves constantly so you don’t lose much progress. All of the classic quality of life features are in this game as well which is another credit to its favor.

Overall 8/10

Mosaic Review

Posted on May 23, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for another old school superhero film. Although in a way it may be more apt to call this one a mystery thriller that would have led into a superhero sequel. There isn’t quite as much action as in the Condor but you do have a whole lot of characters running around and setting up plots for the future. There is a good amount of world building in here and it would have been nice to see what kind of expanded universe we might have had. I guess that’ll have to be something that you can only dream about for now though.

The film starts by introducing us to Maggie who is finally achieving her dream of being a big actress. Her father is skeptical of the career though and wants her to keep studying in school so she can get a real job. Unfortunately his career as an interpol agent is quite dangerous and he is defeated by a mysterious shapeshifting alien. Maggie is also inadvertently blasted with the powers of the chameleon during a thunderstorm so now she can turn invisible and shapeshift.

A crisis rarely comes when you expect it and so now she will have to do her best to master these powers and stop the alien threat. She meets a guy named Mosaic who will help her out but he has the same powers and may not be trustworthy. Maggie will end up learning the truth behind these “aliens” and these truths threaten to change the course of human history itself.

Like I said, there’s a lot of world building here. We learn a whole lot about these chameleon creatures and all of the events that lead up to the present. We also get a quick reference to the Condor and other heroes running around. It’s a big world that just got a whole lot bigger but there isn’t a whole lot of time to get into that.

The main adventure is really about Maggie getting used to her powers and making sure that these villains can’t target her father again. Her abilities are really handy all around. Who wouldn’t want to be able to shape shift or turn invisible right? This gives her a big advantage over the average crook even if it doesn’t help as much in this one since everybody has the same abilities. Hers are slightly heightened in that she can tell when someone else is a shapeshifter as well though.

Maggie is a nice character and an easy main character to root for. She knows when it is time to take action into her hands and throw caution to the winds. Sometimes you have to do that in order to save the day and plunge ahead. The government actually seems to mean well in this story so far but it would take way too long to explain everything to them so I completely understand why Maggie had to plunge on ahead without worrying about any of that. Getting out of the Interpol chief’s car and making a break for it was the right move. The film also explained how she went out of her way to learn a lot of fighting styles so it makes sense why she is able to get into the action so easily.

Meanwhile her best friend Stephan is secretly in love with her. The problem is that the poor guy can’t bring himself to tell her this and so he always lags behind and allows himself to be in the friend zone. He either needs to say something or just be honored to be her friend. The secret crush always ends up making one party look bad because it’s sort of spoiling all of the friendship moments. Maggie really thinks that Stephan is her friend and so she is able to share her excitement at being cast in the shows and all without any reservations. If Stephan confesses and she doesn’t like him like that, well it’s going to get awkward.

I’d also argue that the film goes out of its way to show that she considers him as just a friend with how she acts around Mosaic. Mosaic is one of those very suave characters who seems to have a way with the ladies and is also an excellent agent on the side. That said, he is a lot weaker than you’d expect. You could say that most of his fight scenes weren’t really fair but honestly I could only give him so many excuses before I had to shake my head. He is just not star material.

There’s one scene where he gets effortlessly knocked down, then he gets up only to be combo’d back to the ground. Mosaic then gets up for a third time before they just hold him down. I appreciate the resilience but you have to have some kind of a plan. Not just getting up to be knocked down once again. I wasn’t super impressed with Mosaic as you can guess but they did have to move fast to get him out of the way. If the film was longer then he would have definitely had more hype scenes.

Meanwhile Maniken worked well as the main villain. He’s definitely got a real intimidating design all the way through. He is also strong and has a very specific plan so it’s not like he’s just trying to destroy the world. I was satisfied with having him as the big boss at least. Maggie’s father actually put up a decent struggle against him at first. He just made the classic mistake of forgetting that being invisible doesn’t mean you’re intangible in most cases. I feel like you should just start firing all around or throwing punches. Instead characters always freeze up while the invisible menace just walks over and finishes the job.

That’s why I’m giving a special shoutout to the cop at the very beginning of the film who actually kept his calm and fired the gun at Maniken. He was even able to get the magic gem away from him as a result. Usually the cops in these films miss every shot and never even get close so this was a real nice change of pace. The Interpol chief also looked good and was trying to be supportive. Down the road I could see her helping Maggie out but there will probably always be some tension since you never know when the gov will turn you in for testing.

The animation was solid enough. The character designs are good and the action is on point. I liked the invisibility effect and all in all the animation was very streamlined. There weren’t big chunks where you were wondering what happened to the budget or anything like that. The soundtrack is a bit more on the forgettable side. Nothing to write home about anyway.

Overall, This was a good film. I don’t think it will go down as being super memorable though. I didn’t have any specific issues but it is a little slow paced so on the rewatch that may hurt to an extent. The characters are always looking around because of how many people are actually alien shapeshifters. I enjoy that kind of tension but naturally it won’t hit as hard the second time around. The sequels would have been in a great place now that Maggie is confident in her powers though, maybe they will at least do a comic sequel to it someday. In the meanwhile I would recommend this one, it’s a fun watch.

Overall 6/10

Tron: Ares Review

Posted on May 23, 2026 by dreager1

Tron has returned for a new adventure! It’s definitely good to see the franchise make a comeback because it’s been way too long since the last film. While this one isn’t quite able to match that legend, this is a very good movie with a good amount of action. We finally get to see the cyber world enter the real one and for once the army actually looks rather decent. I was glad that they didn’t just go down immediately. I’d like to see more films after this one but unfortunately it sounds like another long gap is going to appear instead.

The film starts off by explaining that ENCOM no longer owns the monopoly on the digital world. Dillinger Systems is closing in fast and now both of them are competing to take the decisive advantage. The only way to do this is to find a way to finally allow the cyber world to enter the real one. Both of them are able to pull this off for 30 minutes, but they need the permanence code to pull this off. Julian Dillinger creates a master program named Ares who aims to use to find the code or to break into ENCOM and steal it from them. His hunch was correct as the head of ENCOM, Eve, has found this code. She must try to escape from Ares long enough to pull it off but does she have the strength to stay alive?

In a way the first part is a bit like Terminator here as you have the powerful cyber fighters trying to assassinate this one human. At first they need her alive in order to get the code but that’s not always the gameplan. Additionally since they can stay in the real world for 30 minutes and can be respawned as many times as needed, the humans are at a disadvantage. Eve may know how to keep these digital people in the real world indefinitely but it’s a very small comfort when she has no fighters on her side.

The film doesn’t go in this direction but it would have been nice to have seen her summon Tron or something like that. He would have been a powerful asset for the hero side. Eve means well though and does want to make the world a better place. She just doesn’t want this breakthrough to be used for evil. After all if you can create infinite guns, bombs, and robotic soldiers then this will be desired by all kinds of bad actors. The good effects are that you can now have infinite food to solve world hunger, ways to revolutionize medicine, etc.

So the effects of this film will greatly change the world no matter who wins. The film doesn’t really focus on the ramifications of this though. There’s just not really enough time and that would be more for a sequel. Eve is a solid heroine though. She may have taken a little time to really take Julian’s ambitions seriously, but she was able to outsmart Eve during their first fight and did well to keep on staying alive.

As for Julian, well he’s your classic corporate villain. The guy is super cocky and arrogant when he is in control but really starts to panic once the shoe is on the other foot. The guy wants to win at any cost and so he will break as many rules as he feels is necessary to make things go his way. This ends up being rather easy for him in general since Ares gives him a huge leg up over all of the other programs. He never ends up being all that interesting though and the computer villains are definitely more fun. Julian’s also the kind of villain who is creating his own problems since Ares would have absolutely been more loyal if Julian wasn’t transparently antagonizing him throughout the whole film.

Ares is a fun character who takes decisive action right away. He realizes that Julian sees him as expendable and decides to do something about it. He was introduced as being a really strong fighter and he proves that quite a few times during the film. I would have liked for there to have been more of a focus on fight scenes as opposed to general action ones but in either case Ares is always at the top of the class.

I’d say his character arc ends up going a little fast. I would have liked for him to have kept a bit of an edge but at the end of the day I suppose he was just more heroic than Julian would have predicted. I also think the way the film ends leaves a lot of room for his character to go in any direction. You can’t really stop technological progress though and so I fully expect him to have a big role in the next film. If there aren’t a bunch of other programs in the real world by that point then something went wrong.

Eve is really the main villain here. She always had dreams of grandeur and was certainly not going to settle for being 2nd best for long. Her confidence tends to outweigh her skill though. The only times she is winning is when the heroes are at a huge disadvantage. She had the right idea in summoning everyone for the climax though. At that point there isn’t really anything to lose. I also think it would be a really interesting to have an army of extremely powerful fighters who can only exist for 30 minutes going up against the armies of the world. They are strong enough to make a dent but the time limit and constant respawning is a big weakness.

The old characters get a cameo here and there but you shouldn’t expect anything more than that. It would have been really cool to see the characters from the second film show up but I do get how they would probably end up stealing the whole film. The guy from the first film is around but I feel like those scenes don’t have as much of an impact at this point. Maybe it was just the timing though, I wanted to go back to the real world instead of hearing a quick music debate.

The soundtrack for the film is really good as you would expect. A lot of really solid electronic themes going on and they absolutely fit the atmosphere that the film is going for. The end themes actually sounded like something out of Stranger Things but for the midway point and action scenes it would be the Tron that you’ve come to expect. This is a soundtrack that is very loud and unique so I appreciate that. It’s very memorable and that’s part of the Tron experience.

The special effects in general are really good. There is always a lot going on and I love the way that the digital world looks. We also get the classic Lightcycle battle which is a staple for the series. It does make you wish there was more of it though. I think that will always be the hard balance trying to have some human scenes while also giving more time to the Grid. Legacy was more about the Grid so this one’s more about the human parts.

Overall, Tron: Ares is at its best when it is showing off all of the cool digital effects. I always like seeing the battles there and the concepts are also interesting. In this case the members of the Grid are clearly able to feel and emote so they even mourn their fallen allies. If they all start to be sentient, then that’s definitely going to lead to problems in the real world. You may not be as engaged in the company vs company stuff but the film has really quick pacing so there are no points where any of this is dragging on. The whole adventure really ends before you know it with constant danger around every corner. Even if you haven’t seen a Tron film before you should be able to get into this one without any issues. I’d say that it’s very new viewer friendly.

Overall 7/10

The Condor Review

Posted on May 17, 2026 by dreager1

It’s time for one of those superhero films that has a pretty snazzy name but it didn’t actually go very well. Nobody’s really heard of this film and it’s too bad because it had some good elements. I do see where the film did make a lot of mistakes though so it’s certainly not the next Avengers. I would have watched sequels to this one though. The film is surprisingly short and wraps up in the blink of an eye.

The movie starts off with the cops chasing a bank robber. The guy has on some kind of a head piece that gives him super speed. The cops still catch up though and then the robber runs out of juice and dies. Seems like this has been happening more and more often, clearly there is a master manipulator behind the scenes who is orchestrating all of this. What could his end goal be? Well, the film then takes us to our main character, Tony. Tony is one of the best skaters around and is looking to defend his title for the 4th year in a row. He has some tough competition ahead of him but isn’t scared.

His father feels like Tony isn’t using his skills to their fullest though. Tony could be a total genius helping to make the world a better place. Right now the family is working on experimental technologies that can heal people and stop various negative affects across the planet. Tony admits that all he cares about is skating though and so he doesn’t even pay much attention when finding out that his parents are involved in some shady business. Tony’s friend has also gone in with the wrong crowd so there is a lot going on. Perhaps it is time for Tony to put on a uniform and become a superhero known as the Condor?

Right away I have to say that this film is really crazy. There are so many plots and characters running around the whole time but like I said, the film itself is pretty short. So the film has to try and juggle all of this. This results in some plots having to be rushed and others largely being left for a sequel. There was a lot of material here for a whole chunk of films to come out. Fortunately the film still works as a stand alone adventure as long as you just assume that the adventure goes on.

The weakest part of the film has to be the romance here. It’s one of those films where you quickly see how none of the guys are loyal and will fold to any assertive girl. This doesn’t just happen to Tony but to his friend and the Z Man. None can resist the charms of a beautiful lady and while it’s supposed to be funny or endearing, it just makes those guys look really bad.

Lets start with Tony, the “hero” of the story. First off, he is extremely quick to believe an out of context conversation that implicates his parents as criminals. He absolutely refuses to believe anything they say and as far as we know they have had a good relationship. It should not be possible for them to have been ripped apart so quickly and easily. Then Tony turns on his best friend Sammi constantly. She helps him out a lot throughout the film by giving him support, creating legs for him to walk again, etc.

Tony is incredibly ungrateful the whole time. Honestly Sammi should have walked away after a point because it was getting crazy. Now I don’t blame him as much for not noticing her in the romantic sense as the guy seems to be incredibly dense. She should have made a move if she wanted them to be together, but I do blame him for being super inconsistent. After he and Valeria are going out, Tony was still ready to start kissing Sammi at the drop of a hat. At that point that’s not a real romance, it just shows that he’ll enjoy any girl’s company and has no loyalty.

Tony is at his best when he’s skating or fighting. At least he gets a lot of good one liners there and isn’t afraid to go into fights where he is outnumbered. You may question how he is able to fight so well all of a sudden but that even goes for the villain for once. The main villain is shown to be able to fight on par with Tony while not having any super powers. You wonder how Tony can be having any trouble here when he is so much faster. Either Tony has no fighting skills or he has a bunch, you can’t really have it both ways.

For Sammi, well I wouldn’t say she was a great character either. She is still considerably better than Tony though. Sammi’s main issue here is the fact that she just expects Tony to pick up on things without telling him explicitly. That doesn’t really make sense considering how long they’ve known each other. She should have figured out by now that he’ll never pick up the hints so she can either ask him out or move on. In the film she does move on to rebound with the Z-Man but then quickly goes back to Tony. Rebounds like that are never good so she lost a lot of points there.

As for the Z-Man, well he seems like a nice enough guy. He’s a competitor and has some banter with Tony but just wants to have a clean fight. Unfortunately he’s also a bit of a player and can’t resist any lady who throws herself at him. This is definitely meant to be more of a gag but it also means that he is another guy who won’t be the definition of loyalty. He was also way too quick to support Tony and Sammi being together when he liked her. I guess it wasn’t a very strong relationship after all.

Tony’s “friend” Reuben is also pretty bad the whole way through. He gets bullied a lot and so you feel bad for him at first but then it turns out that he is constantly putting himself in bad spots. He decides to get involved in a poker game and uses money that he doesn’t have which resets the whole status. We also find out early on that he is the one who sabotaged Tony which was basically attempted murder. Reuben continues to go down from there and also shows himself to have no morals as he is easily seduced as well. I’m not sure exactly how sympathetic the film was hoping you would find him by the end but I can say that I was at 0%. This guy was just not reasonable at all.

As for Valeria, well she’s not a good character but you almost have to respect her confidence to a degree. She just walks up to whichever guy she wants and claims him. There is no resistance and based on her confidence she has yet to meet a guy who is able to resist her charms. I also thought that she was going to end up being super shallow and dump Tony once he was injured but she actually didn’t. She stuck with him throughout rehab.

So next I figured this was some kind of a trick…but no she actually seemed to like him. It’s possible that she just wanted him for his body but there’s no real way to say for sure. From what we can observe here, she actually ended up being far more loyal than any other character in the movie. Now who would have guessed that? Obviously she is crazy but when you are constantly seeing movie characters like Sammi being too afraid to express their feelings then it ends up being rather endearing. If she had just stuck to Tony and not tried this with anyone else, I would have had to give her my support. That is the kind of confidence you want to see from your girlfriend.

As for the animation, I’d say the fights are pretty solid. Nothing outstanding but the film has a very retro feeling to it with the animation. The strikes are clean and the battles tend to be long and smooth. The power levels are a bit wonky though. It feels like the super speed is very inconsistent in terms of how much of a boost it gives you. The best battles definitely tend to be when Condor is fighting his nemesis.

The characters aren’t very likable and some of them make the worst decisions you can think of. It never made any sense for the parents to be telling the villain that they’re onto him without some kind of a backup plan. I also thought that they handled the car chase poorly but you could argue that may be more of an animation limitation than what was intended. It looks like they could have sped up or at least tried a lot of turning to shake the villains off. By doing nothing it put them back in harm’s way.

The film does also fall into the fanservice issue. This is pretty rare for a superhero film I gotta say but it is frequent here. There are too many zoom ins and slow down effects when Valeria is around. Even the fight with Tony falls into this to a degree. In a way the animation doesn’t help here since they really made sure to do a good job with all of her scenes. A strong movie never has to rely on this kind of tactic. Throw away all the crazy romances along with the fanservice and you’d have a really strong title here.

Overall, The Condor is a good film but does have just enough issues where I can’t give it a higher score here. I like the idea behind it and would say this makes for a pretty good origin. I could easily see them building a whole franchise around this. That said, there are already so many different superhero franchises that you don’t really need any more. If you want to check out a one shot superhero adventure then I’d recommend checking this one out. It’s a special kind of chaotic that you don’t really see nowadays. Just don’t expect this to be the next Superman TV show in terms of quality.

Overall 6/10

Greenland 2: Migration Review

Posted on May 16, 2026 by dreager1

Greenland 2 is one of those films that will make less and less sense as you watch it but that’s okay. The main purpose of the film is just to let you have some fun with a bunch of action scenes. In fact I dare say it beats the first film. It does run a little long though. The runtime isn’t even that long technically but the pacing starts to die out as the main characters run into trouble after trouble. They really can’t go 5 minutes without having some kind of bad luck.

After the events of the first film, the world is in a really rocky spot. Almost all of humanity has already been wiped off the map and the survivors aren’t doing so well with the crazy amounts of radiation everywhere. There is really no escape….except for one last chance. A perfect oasis that was near the initial blast zone. If you can reach this place, you will be completely safe and will not have to worry about anything. Does such a place even exist though? It sounds almost too good to be true and often times places like that are just a way to give hope to those who have lost it. We’ll see if the journey ends up paying off this time.

What really sets the adventure off is when the island that the heroes are on begins to erupt as a volcano was dormant under it. So John and his family go on a long journey but right away I have to say that he was the only one looking good here. So his wife Allison is big on trying to do the heroic thing and having a clear conscience through what is a really tough situation. No problems on that but she takes it to very dangerous levels to where she would doom everyone. The concept here is called suicidal empathy.

For example we are shown at the beginning of the film that the emergency shelter is already at the breaking point. They only have enough food for maybe 2 weeks left and everyone is crammed in like sardines. John has been trying to find some food and materials for a long time but there has been no luck. The air outside is poisonous so they have to all wear air masks and everything. Well, another group has sent out a distress signal. The problem? The group has dozens and dozens of members within it. A group vote is held and Allison puts in enough pressure to win the vote. So now the shelter will have to accommodate an extra 50 people and there simply aren’t the resources for it.

The one guy who opposes this is treated like an antagonist throughout the film but his points really made sense. At that point you are just dooming everyone and Allison keeps this up throughout the movie. At one point everyone is running for the last 3 life boats. The first two end up toppling because too many people tried to go into them. The heroes manage to get onto the third boat and the driver explains that they have to go or their ship will topple over too. Despite this? Allison still says they should let everyone on, knowing that it would doom them all.

She just wasn’t a very practical character. Unfortunately I would say that she is realistic as a lot of people would feel the same way, no matter how bad of an idea it is. There is a time where you can still feel empathy but have to move on or everyone will be dead. She never really recovered from that showing. Still, it’s not like Allison is a villain or anything, she just ends up being an annoying ally.

Then we have the son, Nathan. He’s the classic teenage character who is just really bored. He wants adventure and so he goes outside even with the poison air everywhere because he can’t stand being cooped up. It makes him seem rather selfish but also short sighted. He could have easily spread some viruses throughout the shelter which is the whole reason why only one person is allowed outside and has to be thoroughly detoxed each time. Nathan also has a tendency to panic all the time. At one point they all have to cross a bridge but he keeps yelling about how he won’t and he’d rather just stay and die there. This is life or death, you have to cross the rope even if it’s hard.

Sure it may be easy to say that from behind the screen but I stand by it. Nathan was always slowing them down quite a bit. I’d have cut him some slack if it was because of the insulin issue but aside from a passing mention at the start, that stops being a thing. So as long as it’s just a fear that Nathan has to get past, I have to blame him 100%.

So John is really the best out of the main characters. I really liked the pragmatic government character but he technically doesn’t last very long. John is at least trying to save his family throughout and is actively sacrificing his safety in order to do that. He’s a good hero and that’s really all you need in order to make a quality character. John gets to show off his expert gunman skills as well during the movie. Without him the family would have had no shot.

I’ll give the film props for also completely changing the film’s location early on. We are at the emergency shelter just long enough where you think that a bunch of those characters are going to be sticking around during the movie. Despite that, they are all removed from the story after the heroes leave the base. That was pretty unexpected for me and I thought that it worked. Having a really small cast of just the main 3 characters was a good idea.

The action was also consistent and never let up. While I do think the film began to drag on just a tad bit by the end, I can’t say that it was uneventful. We got several gunfights and a whole lot of running around. It did feel like the film was perhaps being a bit too ambitious at times though. A lot of focus was put on the atmosphere being poisonous but it felt more like an empty threat because there were many times where the characters would be without their helmets and it wasn’t really a big deal. Then it turns out that the sacred land near the crater has no poison at all. In fact that somehow became the biggest oasis on the planet.

It’s not a plot hole as the film very explicitly talks about how we don’t really understand any of this because humanity isn’t really in a position to study it. It’s just a bit convenient. I don’t really see how this land would not have been destroyed by now. Yes, an army is protecting it but with the whole world seeking shelter, that just wouldn’t last long. This isn’t a story that will hold up too well so the important thing is to just have fun in the moment. That is something that the movie is good at.

I was skeptical going into this film because I never thought that Greenland would really need a sequel. It felt like this would just be stretching a premise past the breaking point. At least by making it involve the rest of the world and an actual war, that made things pretty eventful. The writing is also good and most of my complaints about the characters being annoying are not the kinds of things that would actually lower the score of the film. Same with the inconsistent world building and such. They’re elements that are fun to make fun of and note, but don’t actually hurt my enjoyment of the movie.

Overall, Greenland 2 is definitely a good film. I won’t call it a great one or anything like that but I wasn’t bored. The movie kept my attention all the way through and there weren’t any parts that took me out of it because I thought the writing was super bad or anything. The ending is definitely pretty weak though. That’s one thing the film could have done better with because it just isn’t satisfying. It’s the kind of ending that feels standard in a bad way and also heavily limits the potential of a third film.

Overall 6/10

Fate/strange Fake Review

Posted on May 10, 2026 by dreager1

This is a show that really took a long time to come out. Initially there was a pilot episode/movie and then the product vanished. Well, I can safely say that the show did end up being worth the wait. The animation is through the roof and it has ended up being one of the most interesting Fate titles. They are really throwing in figures from all kinds of factions and having the Grail War take place in America this time is pretty hype. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the conclusion to this one.

The series starts by introducing us to a lot of the masters and servants who will be participating in the war. A grail war is a battle where various mages summon heroic legends from the past. These “heroes” are figures of great renown, not necessarily folks who all fight for justice. Each master will then fight along with their summoned servant to destroy all of the others. Typically there are 7 masters and 7 servants in a grail war. The winner will then receive the Holy Grail which allows them to make any wish come true. This grail war feels different from the start though. In a way it’s like some kind of a strange fake. The rules are all in flux and somehow there are 14 masters and 14 servants this time. That’s going to get confusing….who will come out on top?

One thing that’s always been fun about Fate is getting to decide who you want to root for. To an extent I would say Stay/Night is an exception as the first main product. You’re meant to root for Shirou Emiya in that one. For the others like Zero and Apocrypha you get to pick which master you believe to be the most worthy. This anime takes the same approach. While the various masters range from heroic to evil, only one can be the victor. The others will all be doing their best to murder all of the opposition so even the most heroic ones will need to draw blood. There can be no mercy on the battlefield.

I’ll go through each of the masters and servants here. Before that lets just go over the technical elements. Like I mentioned, the graphics are incredible here. The fights all look phenomenal and the fact that people even compare them to the Ufotable battles of previous anime show how impressive they are. The characters all have their own fighting styles and they really show up over the course of battle. While there is occasionally some downtime in the show, you could say that a big portion of it is for the fights and they do not disappoint.

The soundtrack is also top notch with each character getting their own theme. Unfortunately the main Saber has the worst one. It’s not as if this happens often but it is interesting that it’s happened twice now as the main character of Cardfight Overdress had the worst character theme as well. There seems to be this thought that the main character needs to have a super heroic theme. While I agree that it should be heroic to an extent, but you can let the character have a little style to it. Put it this way, Saber’s theme is the only one that I won’t be listening to on Youtube while I play the others quite a lot. In particular I would say that Jester has the best theme.

The writing is also excellent as you would expect. The fate titles are no strangers to a ton of strategic dialogue throughout as every character plans and plans for every eventuality. It’s a big part of what makes the shows to intriguing. There are alliances here and you really can’t trust anyone. Each of the characters would likely betray each other under the right circumstances. It’s important to keep that in mind so that you aren’t manipulated.

One issue the series starts to run into as it goes on is the Sengoku Basara effect. The characters are all in a lot of life and death battles but then somehow they keep finding ways to survive. Fights are interrupted a whole lot to preserve the hype on both sides. This starts to be a bit noticeable when the show is almost over and everyone is still running around. Even by the very ending, 2 of the possible “deaths” aren’t confirmed yet as we don’t see the bodies vaporize into spirit energy. Usually this means that a big comeback is imminent.

It’s not a problem yet as it all depends on the ending but I do think it would have been nice to have taken more fighters out of the picture by this point in the story. You don’t want to be in the final 6 episodes and you’ve still got over 20 participants running around. It’ll make the ending feel a little rushed when it didn’t need to be. I assume we won’t have any guest stars interfering since there wouldn’t be much time for that but it’s still a possibility until the ending with characters like Shiro and Rin being referenced. Personally I feel like Shirou should be able to do some damage here even with how broken these servants are.

Okay so lets get into the characters now. First up we have Ayaka who really does not want to be involved in this war. Unfortunately for her she does not have much of a choice in the matter. The instant Saber showed up to save her, the chances of leaving this place were next to nothing. She has some kin of a cryptic backstory and there are quite a few mysteries surrounding her. As it stands she is one of the least interesting masters though. The reluctant types are usually not my favorite characters. The situation absolutely sucks for her of course but I feel like she needed to just focus after a few episodes. When you have crazy creatures all around you, it’s nice to have a bodyguard.

As for her servant Saber, he’s a really fun character. He’s the kind of guy who likes building others up and always wields his royal authority in a kind way. He takes each character’s personality in stride and tends to have great banter all around the board. Saber is also a man who clings strongly to his ideals and isn’t led astray so easily. At one point another character tries to destroy the faith he has in King Arthur and fails completely. Saber may not have had a solid wish for the grail for most of the series but he was still an easy character to root for. You could argue that he is easily the most heroic servant of the group even though he hints at darker things that have been done in his past.

Then we have Tine who has been preparing for this grail war her whole life. Her whole clan have powered her up for this mission and she summons Gilgamesh, known as the king of heroes. She is surprisingly not as confident as you would expect but she does have to deal with the king who has the biggest ego. In a way, working with him ends up making her more timid in general since it’s just hard to keep up with the guy. I do think she could have done a lot better during the actual battles though as she mainly just watches the whole time. Of course when you have the most powerful servant that is usually a decent option.

As for Gilgamesh himself, well the guy is definitely a beast in combat. I always enjoy just how overconfident he is. Nearly all of his lines are either praising himself or dissing opponents. After all that tough talk you do have to perform though and his biggest weakness seems to be the fact that everyone just no sells his weapons all the time. He has a home run type of weapon that he uses for last ditch efforts but until then he just doesn’t appear to be as dominating as he should. The guy bring a lot of hype moments though and for better or worse he is still my favorite character. The guy just elevates every scene that he’s in.

Then we have a wolf who is one of the masters. That was definitely a surprise but hey that makes him easy to root for. Animals are pure of heart and have no crazy motives. He just wants to live a happy and quiet life. He ends up with one of the most powerful servants in Enkidu as well. This guy is able to hold his own against Gilgamesh and the power set also seems kind of similar. The whole planet is his tool to wield in combat. It would be nice if Enkidu were a more proactive fighter though. It seems like his advantages will slip away if he just sticks to the back and lets the other fighters get stronger. For now there has not been anybody who could really put any pressure on him though. He seems relaxed in all the fights.

After that you have Tsubaki who is a really sickly child. She has had to endure a lot thanks to her psycho parents and now she has a crazy strong servant. Her servant is essentially darkness incarnate and has the ability to create an entire mirror world. Tsubaki’s story has to be the saddest one here though. She’s not old enough to even understand what is happening and was thrown into this war against her will. You just want her to be able to get out of this situation but the grail war makes that difficult. Her servant is also confusing with the different forms that he has. Certainly a strong force but he may not be as evil as he looks because his abilities are really based on emotions. The stronger the emotions, the stronger he gets. I may not have him as high up as the top tier servants but one on one he can handle a lot of them.

Then there is the chief of police, Orlando. He is one of the more heroic masters as he wants to put an end to this grail war and restore peace to the city. We don’t really know what his wish is though. We do know that his sense of justice is quite extreme and he likely has no qualms with the death penalty. His version of saving the world may not work out for everyone but we’ll see how that goes. Unfortunately he got saddled with an extremely weak servant and doesn’t seem to have any real chance of winning the grail war. It’s probably the most unfair part of the event which is that some servants are simply very inferior to others. This isn’t a war where you can hope to win without a good one.

His servant is Shakespeare and his abilities are rather vague. He can write things which come true and can power up other fighters through his language. He seems good at gathering intel and so if you have a lot of foot soldiers then you can power them all up. The problem is that a human with a great weapon is still a human. A lot of them are sent after Jester and they are all wrecked. So for all intents and purposes this is an absolutely useless ability. Casters are usually rather weak if you ask me.

Then there is Jester who is actually a vampire. The guy has great physical specs and is basically invincible against humans due to how the cosmic structure of the universe is set up. He has one of the best fights in the series and is constantly around to stir up trouble. The guy is absolutely crazy and so giving him a wish would put everyone in a tough spot. He also really want Assassin as an obsession that’s rather creepy. He makes for an imposing villain but definitely not one of those guys you can root for.

Assassin may be his servant but she wants nothing more than to murder him. It’ll be very difficult as long as he has command seals though. Her abilities also don’t seem as powerful as other servants. She can launch quick one hit KO moves but if they are evaded or blocked then she doesn’t seem to have much else. I’m sure there is some kind of a trump card that she is hiding though. These servants always seem to have some kind of a wrinkle to them. She does have a full honor code and seems more heroic than other characters though so she is easy to root for.

Then we have Flat who is a child prodigy from the magic organization. Usually he shouldn’t be involved in a war like this just yet so he managed to slip out early just to join in. The guy has a whole lot of talent with his knowledge on magic spells and the like. Unfortunately he also ends up getting a pretty bad servant like the police chief. He’s got Jack the Ripper who is decent when it comes to fighting humans but I was really unimpressed with him here. His true monster form was pretty cool though so I’ll give him that. Flat really meant well but in the end he really didn’t keep his guard up enough. That may have been part of his charm but it really came back to bite him.

As for Jack, well he seemed like a nice guy. If you can get around the fact that he was a big mass murderer back in the day, well he has mellowed out a whole lot. He has a good relationship with Flat, I’d even say they are one of the best master/servant duos in that respect. If we are rating the groups on manners then these two would be near the top. Ultimately it wasn’t quite enough to translate into wins though.

Sigma is one of the weaker humans and he seems to have a weak servant so that’s pretty rough. He grew up as a child soldier and is essentially emotionless but the more he is involved in this grail war, the more he finally has something to fight for. He wants to end this cycle of mindless carnage and at least has a chance to do that now. He’s another character who is easy to root for even if it feels like he’s a longshot to win. At least he does have a solid alliance with other fighters who could help him to swing the odds here.

Bazdilot is one of the more openly antagonistic masters here. The guy seems as shady as it gets and he went out of his way to make sure that his servant was giving in to his dark emotions. This guy is a real fighter and may be one of the strongest masters in terms of overall ability. It’s not like he will be taking any servants on but at least he can take the opposing master out of the running right away. I’d also say that he has one of the most powerful servants without a doubt.

Alcides looks incredibly impressive throughout the show. His bow and arrow combo is much harder to dodge than it looks and each hit really has a ton of power behind it. Going at him the wrong way will definitely lead to certain defeat. He has begun to rack up some serious injuries though so we’ll see if his master has enough mana to sustain him. We did see a whole lab that was built for this though so the preparation is there. Bazdilot has probably done the best preparation work for this out of any fighter except for maybe Faldeus.

We don’t actually know all of the masters yet though. For example True Rider has a master somewhere but we don’t know who that is yet. Her role in this season was also incredibly short as she basically just gets one fight and then vanishes out of there. We’ll see how she does in the next season but her stats didn’t seem super impressive. If anything she appeared to be one of the weaker servants at face value.

Faldeus is fun to watch because he’s basically a government lackey who learned about magic. As a result he has access to the army and can shoot someone down at the drop of a hat. The average master isn’t going to be able to do much against a barrage of bullets and he makes use of this at several moments. He’s still unable to predict every action and is thrown for a loop more than once but is generally in control of things. He has yet to really start fighting in this war and we barely even know who his servant is. Faldeus had better hope that he has a strong one.

Francesca is a fun wild card because she actually went and summoned herself. You’d almost think that can’t be allowed but hey that’s the perk of basically being immortal. She has one of the catchiest tunes as well and just works as a great troll throughout the series. She really enjoys making life harder on everybody else. I don’t see how illusions can win this war though so ultimately she is probably doomed.

Another girl is thrown into this war near the end and her servant is a giant golem. For now they haven’t gotten to do much yet since they were added into the game late. The golem has a super powerful laser but doesn’t seem very mobile so I could see that being a big weakness. The girl isn’t really a fighter but she has a fairy god-mother watching over her so that helps a lot. Ishtar is someone that you want on your side.

Ishtar is someone who isn’t technically a part of the grail war but she’s really not letting that stop her. She was quick to launch her own attacks and take advantage of Gilgamesh’s carelessness. Additionally she mentioned that a temple had been set up so now her powers are growing even more. I have pretty high hopes for her. A powerful wild card like this is just what the grail war needed to get even more chaotic. Also she’s just a lot of fun.

Hansa also makes for a good priest. He may not be the most iconic one in the series but he is a great fighter and even held his own against Hansa for quite a long while. That’s not an easy thing to do at all. That’s even accounting for the fact that Hansa doesn’t take things too seriously. Whenever there is a human who can fight, that gets pretty exciting. I can’t give John the same acclaim since things didn’t go well for him at first. I am curious how his current powered up form will fare in future battles though. He has the right spirit at least. There are a few more characters but this accounts for all of the big ones. I am sure we will meet quit a few new ones in the next season.

While most of this tends to be in combat, I would note that the series can definitely be a bit more on the violent side. These guys are all playing for keeps after all so you’ve got quite a few people getting taken out by bullets and stabs. One character is shot over 100 times as the enemies wanted to make sure that he would stand down. Tsubaki’s origin is pretty grim as well even if it really isn’t on screen all that much. Fate always tends to cut loose a bit although this one isn’t all that crazy compared to some of their previous works. Generally speaking it’s within the realm of what you’d expect for a big action title.

Overall, This was definitely an excellent title. It has strong replay value to each episode to the point where you can rewatch an episode almost immediately after watching it. The visuals are stunning and I dare say this may be the best grail war yet. We’ll see if it can stick the landing though. It is often way easier to set the stage and introduce a bunch of character than it is to actually end the conflict in a satisfying way. As long as there is no cop out and we get an actual winner then I should be fine. Cop outs are the main thing that would just get annoying here because I want to see an actual winner. Hopefully the gap before season 2 isn’t too crazy this time but with Fate you never know.

Overall 8/10

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